Juno
J uno was the stable one in her group of friends. At least, that was what everyone thought. She had always been the good girl of her little group and that wasn’t something that she planned on ever changing. As far as she was concerned, Vixen, Phoenix, and Rebel could go on believing that she was an angel. That’s what they called her—the angel of the group, and it used to piss her off, but now, she kind of liked it. Even if it wasn’t the truth.
Once graduated from high school, her parents gave her an ultimatum—work a full-time job or go to college or trade school. The last thing she wanted to do was go back to school after graduation. Hell, if she had her way, she would have left like Phoenix had, years ago, and never looked back. But her friend was always so much braver than she was.
had used her savings to buy herself a used car and damn it, even that old thing was practical. Her friends liked to joke that she’d be by to pick them up in her grandma car, but she found that to be less funny than they did. Her car got her from point A to point B and it was reliable, unlike most of the people in her life. Sure, her girls were always there for her—even Phoenix once she came back to town and hooked up with Riggs. The gang was all together again, and that should make her happy—not stress her out. But it did. The more time she spent with her girlfriends, the more chances they would have of finding out that her full-time job wasn’t on the up and up—at least, not by their standards of her. If the girls ever found out that she was an exotic dancer, she’d never hear the end of it from any of them. They’d be impossible to live with—even Phoenix who admitted to the group that she used to dance and strip for money to put food on the table for her daughter, Lydia. No, ’s good girl reputation wouldn’t allow for her to have anything scandalous in her past—especially being a dancer down at the local club. As far as everyone was concerned, she was a secretary at a law firm, two towns over, and that was the story she was sticking with.
She had found ways to keep her identity a secret, her costumes, and a little imagination. thought that it was hilarious when she found an angel costume and used that on stage for a while. But her boss, Bruno told her to ditch the good girl routine and find another costume. He said that guys don’t want to fantasize about a good girl in the sheets—they wanted the bad girl, and she did as she was told. The thought of losing her job wasn’t one that she wanted to entertain. The tips were good and there was no way that she’d make that much money as a receptionist or in any other full-time position. So, she ditched the angel costume and opted to dress as the devil for a while. Bruno was right—her tips increased when she went from good girl to bad girl on the stage, not that she’d admit that to him. He’d ask for more of a cut, and there was no way that she was giving his fat ass any more money than she had to.
Her costumes changed throughout the almost four years that she had worked at the club. Right now, she was playing a black widow, and the regulars at the club seemed to like the idea of being killed off by her. They were all idiots, but those idiots paid the bills and allowed her to move out of her parents’ house, and that was her saving grace.
loved her mom and dad, but they were very religious, and her lifestyle would never mesh with theirs. She never dared tell them about her choice of jobs knowing that they’d probably freak out. Every time her dad asked her how she was affording her new apartment; she’d tell him that she got a raise or a bonus of some sort, and he seemed to buy it. wasn’t sure how many more raises and bonuses she could possibly get, but that was a problem for another day. For now, she was happily living in her own place, under her own rules, and that was a good feeling.
“Honey, you’re on,” Bruno called from the hallway. He always did like to micromanage the girls, but a part of her wondered if he just liked hanging around to watch them all get dressed. A few of the girls said that he had made passes at them, but he left alone. Maybe she wasn’t his type, and that worked for her. Hell, she didn’t seem to be anyone’s type, and while she sometimes wondered what it would be like to have a boyfriend who doted on her as Phoenix and Vixen had, she knew that sooner or later, she’d have to tell him about her job, and that would most likely end her “relationship”. Honestly, it had never become an issue for her, since most of her dates never evolved into a relationship. Even in high school, boys seemed to avoid her like she had the plague. The good girl image didn’t seem to appeal to any of the prepubescent boys who didn’t know their ass from a hole in the ground.
“I’m coming,” she grumbled more to herself than her boss. If he thought she was talking back, he’d give her more shifts and that was the last thing she wanted for the weekend. The Harlots were having a big party at the club to celebrate finally raising enough money to build their own clubhouse. Savage had given them a parcel of land that he owned nearby, and they were going to be able to break ground in just a few months. A lot of the Royal Bastards had guys in various trades, and they offered to lend a hand to save some money. was going to miss hanging out at Savage Hell with the Bastards, but it was going to be nice for the Harlots to have their own clubhouse to call home. Extra shifts would mean that she’d have to come up with yet another excuse to tell the girls as to why she wouldn’t be able to hang out with them again.
“What was that?” Bruno challenged. She looked him over and pasted on her best smile, deciding that it wasn’t worth fighting with him.
“Nothing,” she insisted. “I said that I’m ready to go on, boss,” she lied. He made a humming noise in the back of his throat that let her know that he didn’t believe a word she had just said, and she giggled as she walked past him.
“Have a good show,” he grumbled.
“Oh, I will,” she insisted. She walked out onto the stage, her signature song playing in the background. She had chosen it because of the slow, sultry beat that hummed through the club. It seemed to put her at ease somehow, knowing that it was just her and that song out there. was able to drown out all of the prying eyes of the horny men watching her, and she just danced. It was freeing and something that she had come to love about her job.
She didn’t bother looking out into the darkness as she danced her way around the stage. She knew that there was nothing out there for her. Instead, she thought about her grocery list and what she was going to make for dinner that night. If the guys in the club could only read her mind, and stop watching her body, they’d be in for a rude awakening. There was nothing sexy about grocery lists or making dinner, and that thought always made her smile. She finished her routine as the guys around the stage clapped and tossed money at her. It was something that she had gotten used to, even if it was hard to crawl around picking up the cash from the dirty floor when she first started dancing. Every bill she picked up was a chance for her to buy her own place and get out of her rental. That was her goal and if the suckers watching her wanted to help fund her new home, so be it.
dipped down to take a twenty from one of the guys to the side of the stage. “,” his deep voice called. When she looked at him in his dark blue eyes, she couldn’t help her gasp. Guys from the club had been in before and never recognized her, but Saint had. He was Dare’s older brother and one of the guys she tried to steer clear of. Saint was the new Sergeant at Arms for the Royal Bastards, and he wasn’t someone to get mixed up with.
“I’m sorry, but you have me mistaken with someone else, sir,” she whispered. She dropped the twenty that he had handed her and quickly scurried off the stage, not wanting to give him any extra time to talk to her. She had blown her cover, for the first time in almost four years, and that was going to be her undoing. If anyone ever found out about her working at the strip club, she’d never live it down. hated to admit it, but her only recourse was to talk to Saint and beg him not to tell anyone that she worked there. Hopefully, he wasn’t as rough around the edges as she had heard, because he was her only chance at keeping her secret.